Apr 20, 2007

Day 0 (Apr. 19):Met at 8:30 pm at the Lord of the Moon pub to scout out the place. Had some food. Began discussing some socionics topics of interest, as well as information about ourselves. Rick, Peter ("Expat"), Kristiina.

Day 1 (Apr. 20):Met at 10:00 am, stayed 6 hours. 7 people present. Had mostly unstructured discussion on all sorts of topics in socionics. Discussed Reinin dichotomies, hidden agendas, how much of relationships is determined or explained by socionics, the role of cultural communities behavior and intertype relations.

Day 2 (Apr. 21): Met at 10:00 am, stayed 9 hours. 8 people present. I had a long exercise (2.5 hours) where we talked about an apple from the standpoint of all 8 information aspects, analyzing the process and results along the way. Then we had some more general discussion. Later Olga discussed a typing method and talked with each participant about their results. We also looked at sets of photographs and even videos of people and discussed their types. For me this day brought an incredible amount of insight as well as optimism about the usefulness and potential of socionics.

Day 3 (Apr. 22):Met at 10:00, stayed till 2:00, then went to the British Museum together, followed by a rest on the lawn. 5 people present. Talked a lot about relationships between types with numerous specific examples. Olga gave a presentation on a more "ethical" approach to applying socionics. Last day of the seminar!

Apr 15, 2007

Introduction: I have been working on many short type descriptions, and I decided to try writing an extended description of the one I know best. I doubt I will write others this long.

Ego block: blocked with

The central, most dominant qualities of this type are related to . Leading implies being motivated to pursue “intangible,” but external territory – specifically, access to opportunities, contacts with interesting and potentially useful people, or a key position as gatekeeper of information channels or social networks. IEEs have a well-developed vision of their own and others’ capabilities and mission and are motivated more by access to prospects and important information and people than by visible, material assets and rewards.

IEEs are drawn to situations and issues where they expect significant change to occur. They want to be a part of evolving situations, relationships, and issues where hidden potential is just beginning to materialize. When they are taking part in developing something long-term with high potential to influence people’s lives, IEEs feel a great deal of personal power and enthusiasm. They are capable of ardently – even viciously – defending their mental conception of their own and other people’s potential and mission. It is nearly impossible to influence their opinion on these matters, as they trust only their own perception and expect others to accept it as being authoritative.

Leading implies that the qualities that they notice, remember, and search for in their surroundings (and in other people) are mainly intangible and uncertain rather than material or visible, but have the potential to materialize into something real and important or significantly influence events – for example, innate traits, applications, and capabilities of things, people, and situations.

IEEs like to always keep their options open and avoid cutting off their access to new opportunities. They feel best when they both have it all and are not tied down in the least. They expect their intimate partners will both love and nurture them and not burden them down with permanent responsibilities, material expectations, or a predictable lifestyle.

IEEs’ is primarily applied to the human world of rather than the abstract, impersonal world of . They are naturally better at having an impact on the quality of people’s relationships, inner sentiments, and self-concept than on influencing the world of abstract ideas or organizational systems. They have an innate interest in ideas and concepts that can influence people’s lives for the better and help them reach their inborn potential. They are quick to offer people (who they are remotely concerned for) suggestions on how they can develop themselves, increase their professional potential, and develop a working life strategy. The basic message of the IEE’s advice is this: “broaden your horizons, try out new things, get out of restrictive situations, discover new abilities and facets of yourself, and search for opportunities that best fit your innate qualities.” IEEs are focused on getting into the best external situation rather than getting by in existing situations.

IEEs always seem to have a bit of extra energy in their day-to-day life; they always seem to be carrying one too many bags in their arms, taking on one too many responsibilities, watching one too many TV shows before going to bed, and consistently overextending themselves in many other little ways. Their naturally expansive nature leads them to pursue enticing external goals to the detriment of the proper maintenance of their inner life (true of all extraverts).

In their normal state of mind, IEEs continually have “random insights” flash into their mind about things they have been reflecting about. These insights take precedence over things they are supposed to be doing at the moment, and the IEE has to briefly stop and think about them. When they are working, IEEs have frequent random impulses to look up various information, do something else for a moment, or briefly pursue some idea of theirs. This mental quality means that IEEs usually perform multiple aspects of tasks at once, jumping from section to section as the inspiration hits them (if it hits them at all).

IEEs are able to keep a mental image of the whole task in mind as they work on separate parts of it. They enjoy working on the overall concept and strategy of tasks and are good at modifying the concept mid-stream without missing a beat. This is because they almost continually hold in their mind an image or awareness of the overall situations they are in and turn the situations around in their minds to look for new high-potential directions to take or problems that may await them in the future. Externally, this mental process manifests itself as unexpected, yet deliberate behavior that betrays a “higher level of strategy.”

When solving problems, IEEs prefer to try something new or invent their own approach rather than use a tested method or known solution that is certain to work. This sometimes leads to brilliant solutions, but it also often leads to IEEs stubbornly reinventing the wheel. IEEs insist on exercising their imagination in things both major and minor. They prefer guesswork, perceptive speculation, and experimentation over executing algorithms and basing their conclusions only on what is known for sure.

IEEs easily think in terms of what “could happen” or what “might have been.” They easily imagine how things (situations, relationships, events) could be different if some critical factor or event were added or removed. This allows them to model events and analyze trends, but it also means they can harbor regret for years for making critical, far-reaching errors (SLIs, in contrast, prefer to drive regrets from their mind).

IEEs have a natural sense of the paradoxical and absurd in life and society and can put this to use in conversation and humor. They are usually witty and enjoy saying things that are unexpectedly absurd for laughs.

IEEs easily remember and catalog information about people’s interests, expertise, talents, and personality in their minds. They do not need to be next to a person to maintain a sense of contact with him or her, but can feel genuinely close to people who are far removed from them in time in space. They are driven to establish and maintain contact with people whom they have some sort of personally significant connection to, even if that means just one letter or visit a year or less. For IEEs, a sense of closeness comes after they and their partner (whether friend or stranger) share and information about themselves – especially personal experience that led to key insights and had a significant impact on their personal development. Sharing such revelations is a favorite “peak experience” of IEEs and can produce an intense feeling of kinship and spiritual closeness.

IEEs’ strong implies a natural ability to create a friendly, open, sincere atmosphere where people can freely demonstrate their innate traits (which serves their central interests). They shun feelings of social awkwardness and easily acquire the skill of making people feel comfortable and accepted. They effectively use their warm and genuine smile and maintain the optimal psychological distance with the people they communicate with. This means purposely limiting contact and one-on-one situations with some people as well as pursuing personal contact with others where there is potential in the relationship that needs to be developed.

By cleverly and purposefully regulating the degree and extent of personal contact with other people, IEEs typically are able to avoid negative emotions, disappointment, and offense and preserve participants’ sense of autonomy and spontaneity. The flip side of this innate ability is a hypersensitivity to feelings of awkwardness and incompatibility. IEEs want to be able to choose for themselves whom they interact with and can easily feel repressed and abused if they are not given this opportunity. They are better at selecting compatible, mutually interesting combinations of people than adapting to situations where they must interact closely with people who do not match them ideally. They feel that the natural expression of individual qualities should take precedence over the proper maintenance of relationships (which reflects the priority of over ).

Super-ego block: blocked with

In formal or unfamiliar situations, IEEs typically try at first to appear very organized, controlled, “with it,” and mobilized for action. They hide their usual spontaneity and warmth and put on the controlled, serious mask of a resolute, action-oriented person. They do this to avoid potentially painful criticism from representatives of society at large (i.e. from the strangers they are dealing with). This state of mind is emotionally taxing, and after they are sure the people they are dealing with have accepted them and don’t intend to criticize them, IEEs loosen up and allow themselves once again to be spontaneous, frivolous, friendly, witty, and engagingly enthusiastic about their personal interests.

When IEEs are around people with strong desires and a commanding presence (leading ), they unwittingly copy or challenge the person, in a sense showing that “they can do it, too.” If attacked verbally or physically threatened in a forceful form, they instinctively respond in the same spirit rather than immediately backing down. At other times, their aggressiveness and forcefulness may flare up because of irritation, but they use these tools ineffectively and rarely achieve their goal using them (unless the other party takes pity on the irritated IEE and decides to back down to preserve the IEE’s own sanity).

IEEs are generally slow to anger, but if they feel others are trying to take advantage of their weakness, they become demanding and confrontational. However, as soon as they see that the other party is intimidated and has made the first steps towards satisfying their demands, they relax and begin showing understanding and sympathy for the other person’s “difficult” situation. In the end, IEEs often don’t get what they want from confrontational situations, but they feel good about having “put up a fight” anyway. In short, IEEs can only be forceful and categorical for brief periods of time.

IEEs don’t believe in forcing themselves to do difficult things. Instead, they want everything in life to be a new experience that grabs their interest and motivates them without them having to exert any extra willpower. As much as they may try, IEEs are almost always unable to keep an exercise or diet schedule for an extended period of time. Changes in mood and interest level easily reduce their resolve to zero. IEEs find that they are unwilling and unable to force themselves to do most things, and that resolve must grow by itself (this reflects the preeminence of over in their motivational structure).

IEEs don’t identify strongly with tangible things, possessions, and property. If they lose these things, they easily forget about it and even feel relieved to be free of the material burden and turn their focus to the future. Wherever possible, IEEs strive to be free of material responsibility and the burdens of ownership and management of material assets that would tie them down and monopolize their time and attention.

IEEs feel uncomfortable and threatened by revealing information about the different “categories” they belong to (various organizational, cultural, and ideological affiliations – whether formal or informal – and even categories of people defined by weight, race, IQ, or any other formal measure) and hence subjecting their affiliations to public examination and criticism. They want to be treated in accordance with their “true self” and personality regardless of their affiliation to various groups or categories. If they feel they have been put in the “wrong” category by someone who should have known better, they feel deeply wronged and can harbor ill will for years.

IEEs feel more comfortable expressing their views, opinions, and experience to people they have established a personal, trusting connection with than in formal discussions where people may criticize their ideas and formulations and ignore their good intentions and personal experience. When IEEs focus on presenting information in an impersonal, systematic manner, they often appear overcontrolled and uptight. When they let themselves focus on the vision and experience of what they are describing, or freely jump from aspect to aspect of the subject, the quality of their ideas actually increases, and they do a better job of captivating their audience.

IEEs show interest in abstract ideas that have great explanatory potential. However, once they have assimilated the ideas, they are better at talking about personal experience and observations related to the ideas rather than the logical content or structure of the ideas themselves. They avoid using new categories or systems until they can see worthwhile applications to people’s lives and belief systems.

IEEs prefer to examine people’s individual reasons for their behavior rather than judge behavior through the lens of systems of rules or concepts ( approach), or judge the person based on how well he or she satisfies other people’s demands ( approach). IEEs assume that people’s behavior always has an objective root in their past, their upbringing, or their internal makeup. They cannot condemn a person for what he was programmed to do by his past or his personality. However, they condemn people who ignore insights and understanding that they feel should be obvious to everyone (each type tends to harshly criticizes those who reject “obviously correct” behavior, thoughts, sentiments, or attitudes related to their own leading function).

Super-id block: blocked with

IEE’s passivity in is the flip side of their focus on . Their persistent, multi-faceted efforts in developing external prospects and nonmaterial potential leave them in need of frequent, varied, and relaxing sensory experiences on a daily basis to refresh them and balance them out. IEEs are mostly dependent on other people and situations to generate and monitor these experiences, as they are unable to direct their attention at them long enough to produce the necessary effects on their own.

Like other extraverts, IEEs’ inner lives easily turn into a contradictory mess of chronically neglected needs. A lack of attentiveness to their own inner needs can make IEEs petty, irritable, and slobbish at home even as they maintain an air of competency, insightfulness, and enduring optimism in society and at the workplace. As they see this happening to themselves, IEEs may decide it’s time to pack up and move elsewhere to get a fresh start in life. But unless new people are added to the recipe, lasting changes in living will probably not occur.

IEEs aren’t very good at touching other people in a spontaneous, natural way. If they do decide to take the initiative in touching someone, it is usually done too abruptly and deliberately (through their role , which produces a rough, external action lacking in sensitivity to the other person’s physical state). However, they are good at responding to being touched by others. They like gentle touching and soft caresses, nothing rowdy or abrupt.

Judging by IEEs’ behavior when communicating with others, as well as their clothing and appearance, it would seem that sex and sexuality are the last thing on their minds. Rather than use conversations as outlets for flirting that could lead to sexual feelings, they concentrate on understanding the other person’s personality, thoughts, and feelings and push any physical impulses they have to the back of their mind. As they chat charmingly with an attractive person of the opposite sex, they sincerely believe that they are only having a stimulating conversation. Learning to participate in overtly sexual flirtation is a mind-boggling, fascinating experience for IEEs. However, they are waiting to be led there by others. They are dependent on their partners’ gentle encouragement in physical intimacy.

When trying to satisfy their physical needs – not only through eating and sleeping, but also through relaxation and recreation – IEEs have a hard time fully switching their attention to these activities unless there is someone next to them who is engrossed in the activity, or they are in an unusual state of mind. Much more often than not, IEEs eat without fully realizing what and how they are eating, hunched over in an uncomfortable pose, or perched precariously on the side of their chair. At any moment, it seems, they are ready to jump up and return to what they were doing. They tend to put off eating until they are thoroughly starving if preparing food will require more than a few habitual actions.

is about much more than satisfying one’s physical desires; it is also responsible for listening to oneself and one’s inner wishes and desires in a more general sense. IEEs find they often lose touch of what they themselves want to do, as they keep responding automatically to interesting “invitations” from the outside world. They find people fascinating who are able to ignore external stimuli and focus on pursuing their own desires regardless of external pressure. IEEs often feel overextended and un-cared for. Learning to listen to and follow their internal desires is a revelatory experience for them. However, they routinely forget how to do it without outside prompting. They have a hard time fitting what they are doing at the moment to their current state of mind. Yet when they do not correlate the two, they become finicky, irritated, and infantile without understanding the reasons for their change of mood.

IEEs do not typically have a good memory for things to do, algorithms, or technical characteristics. To compensate, they like to make lists of things to do, lists of pros and cons, and exhaustive, “insightful” instructions for themselves and others. They like to automate work processes as much as possible so that they do not have to think about them anymore. However, new procedures, instruments, and techniques always come up that inevitably cause the IEE stress. They require explicit, painstaking instructions and can become mentally paralyzed and exasperated if logical assumptions are made along the way that they are not aware of.

IEEs have difficulty focusing on tasks to be done unless there is a sense of urgency, a particular state of relaxation and mental clarity, or someone nearby who is already working on the task. IEEs don’t like to perform familiar tasks with a known outcome, but prefer starting something with a degree of novelty and an uncertain outcome.

IEEs often miss the simple logic in other people’s behavior as they analyze the person’s entire personality and motivational structure. Without coaching from and types, they may never realize they are being blatantly lied to, offered a good deal, or shown sexual interest. These things tend to slip past them.

in the Super-id means that IEEs often lose track of the effectiveness of their actions and can get carried away with details or sub-tasks that they don’t recognize as being relatively insignificant to the job as a whole. They require frequent tips on how to save time, make rational choices, and manage the work they have to do.

Id block: blocked with

Occasionally – most often when they are alone – IEEs fall into a dreamy, reflective, and introspective state where they suddenly lose all interest in pursuing external goals and stimuli. This is a good state for writing something poetic or allegorical, for composing or improvising music, writing an introspective diary entry, or doing something else creative slowly and methodically. These states are satisfyingly creative, but become unproductive and irritating to the IEE if they last too long. When interacting with others, IEEs much prefer to access their usual state which focuses on finding answers and possibilities in the outside world, rather than , which focuses on finding answers inside oneself and one’s perception.

IEEs are warm and friendly, but not usually very externally animated or loud. However, they can become very animated and expressive for brief periods of time, imitating other people, modulating their voices like types with strong , and acting out situations using rich facial expressions, body movements, and intonation. IEEs may seem naturally gifted at this, but they do not keep it up for very long and quickly revert to their usual calm, upbeat, smiling selves. For them, and states are unusual, altered states of consciousness and, while IEEs show some competency in them, they are not a big part of their day-to-day lives.

IEEs usually feel awkward and shy when other people are very emotionally animate or verbally profuse around them, especially if they direct their emotional displays at the IEE. IEEs have a hard time expressing genuine emotional involvement and excitement (for example, jumping in the air and shouting “yippee” as you clap your hands) and don’t like situations where this kind of excitement and team spirit is expected of them. They feel more comfortable and confident expressing their personal sentiments one-on-one or in a small group than expressing group sentiments.